Em11 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Em11 — drop 2 voicings
Em11 is E, G, B, D, F# and A — Em9 with the eleventh added on top.
It sounds spacious and slightly unresolved. The eleventh is a whole step above the minor third, so unlike its major counterpart it fits without a fight.
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — it hangs rather than moves.
Em11 notes and formula
| E | G | B | D | F# | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 | 11 |
Also written Emin11, E-11 or E minor 11. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Em11
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
Em11 has 15 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and the bottom four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 99th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass, G in the bass, D in the bass and A in the bass. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the middle four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Six notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep G and D (they fix the quality) and A and F# (what the symbol is about). Let B and E go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play Em11 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 13 (C#).
All 10 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 000002, open position, E, root position, top note F#, 5 open strings
- xx2233, 2nd fret, E, root position, top note G, all fretted
- 005430, open position, E, root position, top note E, 3 open strings
- x75755, 5th fret, E, root position, top note A, barred
- x75775, 5th fret, E, root position, top note A, barred
- x77787, 7th fret, E, root position, top note B, barred
- 12-10-12-11-10-10, 10th fret, E, root position, top note D, barred
- 12-x-12-12-10-x, 10th fret, E, root position, top note A, barred
- 12-12-12-12-12-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, barred
- x-x-14-14-15-15, 14th fret, E, root position, top note G, all fretted
How to use Em11
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Em11 is F#m7♭5 to B7♭9: the ii and the V of E minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Em11 belongs to D major (the ii, the supertonic), E minor (the i, the tonic), G major (the vi, the submediant) and B minor (the iv, the subdominant).
What to play over Em11
Every note of Em11 is in E dorian and E natural minor.
Chords near Em11
Change one note of Em11 and you have Em9 (drop the eleventh), EmMaj11 (the flat seventh becomes the major seventh) or E11 (drop the minor third).
Em11 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.